Alaska Energy Organizations Send Letter to President Obama

August 26, 2015

The Beaufort Sea via Shutterstock

[bq]”The very concept of Alaska’s statehood is predicated on the development of our natural resources.”[/bq]

Consumer Energy Alliance’s Alaska chapter this week signed on to a letter to President Obama ahead of his first ever visit to Alaska. Along with the Resource Development Council, the Alaska Support Industry Alliance, the Alaska Laborers Union and many other groups, the letter provides information for the President about how important natural resources are to the state, and what they mean for consumers. Natural resource-driven industries such as manufacturing, trucking, forestry, fishing and tourism – as well as oil and gas and mining — drive Alaska’s job market and economic contributions, not only for the state but throughout the lower 48.

The very concept of Alaska’s statehood is predicated on the development of our natural resources. More than five decades ago when Alaska statehood was debated, many politicians in Washington, D.C. doubted this northern territory could build an economy and contribute to the union. Alaskans joined together to convince Congress that development of Alaska’s vast resources could establish and sustain a strong private sector economy. Following the commercial discovery of oil, Washington responded by adding a 49th star to the American flag. Alaska was allowed to join the union because of the expectation that the development of our natural resources would sustain our economy.

The President is set to visit Alaska later this month to take part in the GLACIER conference hosted by the U.S. State Department. The conference is billed as a way to “focus the world’s attention on the most urgent issues facing the Arctic today and provide an unprecedented opportunity for foreign ministers and key stakeholders to define the region’s most crucial challenges…”